Desktop install

Nimbus Desktop (nimbus-desktop) is the native shell for the Nimbus operator console — the same /ui/ console the server embeds, wrapped in a desktop window with system tray integration and automatic updates. It ships from its own repository, nimbus/desktop, on a release cadence independent of the nimbus CLI.

The shell does not bundle the server. Install the nimbus CLI first. The CLI ships for Apple Silicon macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, Linux arm64, and Linux x86_64. There is no Intel macOS build of the CLI, although the desktop DMG below is universal.

# macOS / Linux (Homebrew)
brew install nimbus/tap/nimbus

# Linux (install script)
curl -fsSL https://github.com/nimbus/nimbus/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

On launch the shell looks for a running nimbus server and connects to it; if none is running, it spawns one in the background and waits for it to become ready.

macOS

Requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.

Homebrew Cask (recommended)

brew install nimbus/tap/nimbus-desktop

The cask installs nimbus-desktop.app into /Applications from a Developer ID-signed, notarized DMG — no quarantine prompt. The cask sets auto_updates, so ongoing upgrades are handled by the app's built-in updater rather than brew upgrade.

Direct download

Download nimbus-desktop-<version>-universal.dmg from the latest release and drag nimbus-desktop.app into /Applications. The DMG is a universal build for Apple Silicon and Intel. The release also publishes a ZIP variant used internally by the auto-updater; prefer the DMG.

Verify the signature

codesign --verify --deep --strict --verbose=2 /Applications/nimbus-desktop.app
spctl --assess --type execute --verbose=4 /Applications/nimbus-desktop.app
xcrun stapler validate /Applications/nimbus-desktop.app

Expect valid on disk, satisfies its Designated Requirement, source=Notarized Developer ID, and The validate action worked!.

Linux

Three x86_64 formats per release on the releases page. Pick the one that matches your distribution.

Debian / Ubuntu (.deb)

curl -LO https://github.com/nimbus/desktop/releases/latest/download/nimbus-desktop_<version>_amd64.deb
sudo apt install ./nimbus-desktop_<version>_amd64.deb

Installs under /opt/nimbus-desktop/ with a launcher entry in the Development category.

Fedora / RHEL (.rpm)

curl -LO https://github.com/nimbus/desktop/releases/latest/download/nimbus-desktop-<version>.x86_64.rpm
sudo dnf install ./nimbus-desktop-<version>.x86_64.rpm

Any distribution (AppImage)

curl -LO https://github.com/nimbus/desktop/releases/latest/download/nimbus-desktop-<version>-x86_64.AppImage
chmod +x nimbus-desktop-<version>-x86_64.AppImage
./nimbus-desktop-<version>-x86_64.AppImage

Linux artifacts are not code-signed; fetch them over TLS directly from the GitHub Releases page.

Windows

NSIS installers (nimbus-desktop-Setup-<version>-x64.exe and -arm64.exe) are published on the releases page. They are currently unsigned, so SmartScreen warns on first launch — downloading directly from the GitHub release and accepting the prompt is the supported path today. The installer defaults to a per-user install under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\nimbus-desktop\.

Launch

# macOS
open -a nimbus-desktop

# Linux
nimbus-desktop

On Windows, launch nimbus-desktop from the Start menu. The window opens to the operator console. If the shell reports that no server was discovered, confirm the CLI is installed and starts cleanly:

nimbus --version
nimbus start

Updates

The shell updates itself: it polls the GitHub release feed, downloads new versions in the background, and installs on the next quit — never a forced restart. This is independent of the nimbus CLI; see updates for how the server binary updates and how each surface reports its own version.

Next steps

• Self-host quickstart — get a server running for the shell to connect to.
• Updates — CLI and shell update cadences.